South Manchester Book Group

We're a friendly and open reading group, and we share a love of books and discussing them with other people. We meet every fortnight, but you don't have to come to them all. It's dead simple; choose a book you like the sound of, read it (or even part of it) beforehand and turn up with a few ideas and money for beer / wine / flirtinis. It's very informal, and we're quite a friendly bunch.

We meet at a pub in Didsbury around 8 pm. We can usually be found on the table with the books and flirtinis.

We've become rather popular recently so unfortunately aren't accepting new members just at the moment. But please drop us a line on the Contact Us form and we'll add you to our mailing list.

Our reading list, past, present, and future, appears here and a short version of what we’re reading next is here.

Thursday 27 June 2024

Cloud Atlas — David Mitchel

Book cover for Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel Cloud Atlas in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.

This week's book is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchel and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 13 June 2024

Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold — Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Book cover for Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Seasons flow in a cycle.
Life too, passes through difficult winters.
But after any winter, spring will follow.

This week's book is Tales from the Cafe: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 30 May 2024

All Quiet on the Western Front — Erich Maria Remarque

Book cover for All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another, and in silence, unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another.

This week's book is All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

As we're coming to the end of our reading list, we'll be choosing books at the meeting. You may like to consider the unread books list and the unreadable books list.

Thursday 16 May 2024

Titus Groan — Mervyn Peake

Book cover for Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake Titus Groan in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group In the presence of real tragedy you feel neither pain nor joy nor hatred, only a sense of enormous space and time suspended, the great doors open to black eternity, the rising across the terrible field of that last enormous, unanswerable question.

This week's book is Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 2 May 2024

The Mist — Stephen King

Book cover for The Mist by Stephen King The Mist in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group When rationality begins to break down, the circuits of the human brain can overload. Axons grow bright and feverish. Hallucinations turn real: the quicksilver puddle at the point where perspective makes parallel lines seem to intersect is really there; the dead walk and talk; a rose begins to sing.

This week's book is The Mist by Stephen King and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 18 April 2024

Steppenwolf — Herman Hesse

Book cover for Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse Steppenwolf in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group There is no reality except the one contained within us. That is why so many people live such an unreal life. They take the images outside of them for reality and never allow the world within to assert itself.

This week's book is Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 4 April 2024

Invisible Man — Ralph Ellison

Book cover for Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Invisible Man in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fibre and liquids- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible because people refuse to see me ... When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination — indeed, everything and anything except me.

This week's book is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 21 March 2024

The Ballad of the Sad Café — Carson McCullers

Book cover for The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers The Ballad of the Sad Café in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Love is a joint experience between two persons — but the fact that it is a joint experience does not mean that it is a similar experience to the two people involved.

This week's book is The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 7 March 2024

The Code of the Woosters — P G Wodehouse

Book cover for The Code of the Woosters by P G Wodehouse The Code of the Woosters in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, ‘Do trousers matter ?’
The mood will pass, sir.

This week's book is The Code of the Woosters by P G Wodehouse and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 22 February 2024

Lessons in Chemistry — Bonnie Garmus

Book cover for Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus Lessons in Chemistry in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group “Sometimes I think,” she said slowly, “that if a man were to spend a day being a woman in America, he wouldn't make it past noon.”

This week's book is Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 8 February 2024

The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century — Olga Ravn

Book cover for The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Why do I have all these thoughts if the job I’m doing is mainly technical ? Why do I have these thoughts if the reason I’m here is primarily to increase production ? From what perspective are these thoughts productive ? Was there an error in the update ? If there was, I’d like to be rebooted.

This week's book is The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 25 January 2024

Sea of Tranquility — Emily St John Mandel

Book cover for Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel Sea of Tranquility in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Pandemics don’t approach like wars, with the distant thud of artillery growing louder every day and flashes of bombs on the horizon. The arrive in retrospect, essentially. It’s disorienting. The pandemic is far away and then it’s all around you with seemingly no intermediate step.

This week's book is Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 11 January 2024

Villette — Charlotte Brontë

Book cover for Villette by Charlotte Brontë Villette in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to cultivate happiness. What does such advice mean ? Happiness is not a potato, to be planted in mould, and tilled with manure. Happiness is a glory shining far down upon us out of Heaven. She is a divine dew which the soul, on certain of its summer mornings, feels dropping upon it from the amaranth bloom and golden fruitage of Paradise.

This week's book is Villette by Charlotte Brontë and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 21 December 2023

Ghost Stories — M R James

Book cover for Ghost Stories by M R James Ghost Stories in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Those who spend the greater part of their time in reading or writing books are, of course, apt to take rather particular notice of accumulations of books when they come across them. They will not pass a stall, a shop, or even a bedroom-shelf without reading some title, and if they find themselves in an unfamiliar library, no host need trouble himself further about their entertainment.

This week's book is Ghost Stories by M R James and we'll be meeting at The Portico Library on Mosley Stree in Manchester, and then to Sam's Chop-House — contact us for details.

Thursday 7 December 2023

The Double — Fyodor Dostoevsky

Book cover for The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky The Double in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group These, gentlemen, are my rules: if I don't succeed, I keep trying; if I do succeed, I keep quiet; and in any case I don't undermine anyone. I'm not an intriguer, and I'm proud of it. I wouldn't make a good diplomat. They also say, gentlemen, that the bird flies to the fowler. That's true, and I'm ready to agree: but who is the fowler here, and who is the bird ? That's still a question, gentlemen !

This week's book is The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 23 November 2023

White Fang — Jack London

Book cover for White Fang by Jack London White Fang in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group To man has been given the grief, often, of seeing his gods overthrown and his altars crumbling; but to the wolf and the wild dog that have come in to crouch at man's feet, this grief has never come. Unlike man, whose gods are of the unseen and overguessed, vapors and mists of fancy eluding the garmenture of reality, wandering wraiths of desired goodness and power, intangible outcroppings of self into the realm of spirit — unlike man, the wolf and the wild dog that have come into their fire find the gods in the living flesh, solid to the touch, occupying earth-space and requiring time for the accomplishment of their ends and their existence. No effort of faith is necessary to believe in such a god; no effort of will can possibly induce disbelief in such a god. There is no getting away from it. There it stands, on its two hindlegs, club in hand, immensely potential, passionate and wrathful and loving, god and mystery and power all wrapped up and around by flesh that bleeds when it is torn and that is good to eat like any flesh.

This week's book is White Fang by Jack London and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 9 November 2023

Treacle Walker — Alan Garner

Book cover for Treacle Walker by Alan Garner Treacle Walker in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Ragbone ! Ragbone ! Any rags ! Pots for rags ! Donkey stone !

Joe looked up from his comic and lifted his eye patch. There was a white pony in the yard. It was harnessed to a cart, a flat cart, with a wooden chest on it. A man was sitting at a front corner of the cart, holding the reins. His face was creased. He wore a long coat and a floppy high-crowned hat, with hair straggling beneath, and a leather bag was slung from his shoulder across his hip.

Joe Coppock squints at the world with his lazy eye. He reads his comics, collects birds' eggs and treasures his marbles, particularly his prized dobbers. When Treacle Walker appears off the Cheshire moor one day — a wanderer, a healer — an unlikely friendship is forged and the young boy is introduced to a world he could never have imagined.

This week's book is Treacle Walker by Alan Garner and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 26 October 2023

Hyperion — Dan Simmons

Book cover for Hyperion by Dan Simmons Hyperion in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group It is the 29th century and the universe of the Human Hegemony is under threat. Invasion by the warlike Ousters looms, and the mysterious schemes of the secessionist AI TechnoCore bring chaos ever closer.

On the eve of disaster, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set fourth on a final voyage to the legendary Time Tombs on Hyperion, home to the Shrike, a lethal creature, part god and part killing machine, whose powers transcend the limits of time and space. The pilgrims have resolved to die before discovering anything less than the secrets of the universe itself.

This week's book is Hyperion by Dan Simmons and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

 

As we're coming to the end of our reading list, we'll be choosing books at the meeting. You may like to consider the unread books list and the unreadable books list.

Thursday 12 October 2023

Woman at Point Zero — Nawal El Saadawi

Book cover for Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi Woman at Point Zero in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group All the men I did get to know, every single man of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face. But because I am a woman I have never had the courage to lift my hand. And because I am a prostitute, I hid my fear under layers of make-up.

So begins Firdaus' story, leading to her grimy Cairo prison cell, where she welcomes her death sentence as a relief from her pain and suffering. Born to a peasant family in the Egyptian countryside, Firdaus suffers a childhood of cruelty and neglect. Her passion for education is ignored by her family, and on leaving school she is forced to marry a much older man. Following her escapes from violent relationships, she finally meets Sharifa who tells her that 'A man does not know a woman's value the higher you price yourself the more he will realise what you are really worth' and leads her into a life of prostitution. Desperate and alone, she takes drastic action.

This week's book is Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.

Thursday 28 September 2023

Portnoy's Complaint — Philip Roth

Book cover for Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth Portnoy's Complaint in the South Manchester, Chorlton, Cheadle, Fallowfield, Burnage, Levenshulme, Heaton Moor, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Norris, Heaton Chapel, Northenden, and Didsbury book group Doctor, do you understand what I was up against ? My wang was all I really had that I could call my own ...

The frank revelations of his shame and humiliation told by Alexander Portnoy — a sexually-obsessed, mother-fixated bachelor — told to his psychoanalyst, Dr Spielvogel, leave no stone unturned ...

This week's book is Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth and we'll be meeting at Ye Olde Cocke on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.